On the heels of a speech by US Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar in which he declared, “There is no international right to an abortion,” President Donald Trump backed up that statement in a speech of his own.
As the first sitting U.S. president to speak about abortion to the U.N. General Assembly, according to the National Right to Life Committee, President Trump said on Tuesday that “Americans will… never tire of defending innocent life.” He continued:
We are aware that many United Nations projects have attempted to assert a global right to taxpayer-funded abortion on demand – right up until the moment of delivery. Global bureaucrats have absolutely no business attacking the sovereignty of nations that wish to protect innocent life. Like many nations here today, we in America believe that every child, born and unborn, is a sacred gift from God.
On Monday, Azar told the United Nations General Assembly that the 19 countries he was representing “do not support references to ambiguous terms and expressions, such as sexual and reproductive health and rights in U.N. documents.” As reported by Live Action News, he went on to say:
Such terms do not adequately take into account the key role of the family in health and education, nor the sovereign right of nations to implement health policies according to their national context. There is no international right to an abortion and these terms should not be used to promote pro-abortion policies and measures.
READ: Trump admin: Hospitals can’t force employees to assist with abortions
In a letter sent to other pro-life governments, Azar and secretary of state Mike Pompeo had requested that they “join the United States in ensuring that every sovereign state has the ability to determine the best way to protect the unborn and defend the family as the foundational unity of society vital to children thriving and leading healthy lives.”
“We remain gravely concerned that aggressive efforts to reinterpret international instruments to create a new international right to abortion and to promote international policies that weaken the family have advanced through some United Nations fora,” the letter continued.
Trump also spoke about the important roles of women in society, saying:
Nations that empower women are much wealthier, safer, and much more politically stable. It is therefore vital, not only to a nation’s prosperity, but also vital to its national security to pursue women’s economic development. Guided by these principles, my administration launched the Women’s Global Development and Prosperity initiative.
The Trump administration has a proven track record of fighting for the rights of preborn human beings around the world. The administration reinstated and expanded the Mexico City Policy which forbids federal funding to go to organizations that commit or promote abortion overseas. They also refused to give money to the U.N. Population Fund due to its partnership with a Chinese population-control program which allows forced abortions and sterilizations. In addition, the Trump administration established a new requirement that any groups that receive Title X funding from the government refrain from committing or referring for abortion.
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